U.K. to play full part in strikes

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT 16. The British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has pledged Britain's full support to any U.S. action to hunt down the terrorists behind Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington.

His comments in an interview to the U.S. TV network CNN came even as domestic opinion remained opposed to giving Washington a ``blank cheque''. Mr. Blair reiterated that what happened on Tuesday was not an attack just on America but on the entire civilised world. The British casualties were the highest in any terrorist attack so far, he said, declaring that his country was very much at war with terrorism. ``Yes. Whatever the technical or legal issues about a declaration of war, the fact is we are at war with terrorism,'' he declared.

Mr. Blair, who has been criticised for committing Britain's ``blind'' support to U.S. retaliation, praised Mr. George W. Bush's handling of the crisis. He was confident of a worldwide coalition to track down the perpetrators of the outrage and further action to dismantle international terrorism, including its finances. About efforts to build support for possible military strikes, Mr. Blair said: ``This is something obviously we discussed with the American President. I am very pleased at the way the American administration has gone out of its way to consult its allies, to keep us informed. There has to be a response to bring those terrorists who committed this attack to account and we will play our full part in that.''

Meanwhile, the Blair Government has come under pressure to crack down on extremist groups within Britain which, despite a new tough anti-terrorism law, remains a haven for political and religious fanatics from around the world.

Sympathisers of Osama bin Laden are believed to be still active despite a ban on his flagship terrorist organisation, Al-Qaeda, and British intelligence agencies are reported to be looking closely at his network for any possible links with the U.S. events. They are said to be shadowy figures not directly linked to any organisation, but quietly pursuing Osama's aims, and under the existing laws they cannot be hauled up until they commit a terrorist act on British soil.

Mr. Blair has indicated a review of these laws to make it easier to identify terrorists and facilitate their extradition to their own countries where they are wanted. At present, British laws don't permit extradition if it is feared that they are likely to face political persecution or torture in their home countries .

The most publicised case is that of Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi citizen and an Osama supporter, who is wanted by the U.S. Government in connection with the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. He was arrested and is in a British jail, fighting extradition with official legal aid which is estimated to have cost the British taxpayers nearly œ1 million so far. There is widespread criticism that the ban on 21 terrorist organisations earlier this year under the new anti-terrorism has not affected their activities and their supporters continue to be engaged in feeding subversive actions against countries with which Britain has friendly relations.

``Britain has not yet managed to stop the abuse of this country's good communications, international links and financial expertise to support networks planning evil overseas. At least nine foreign governments have asked for the extradition of people wanted on charges of terrorism; several countries are now warning the Government that the new laws have made very little practical difference or stopped exiles using their safety here to plan strikes at friendly governments overseas,'' The Times commented. The Independent on Sunday quoted an intelligence source as saying that the terrorists were very much ``in place'' in Britain and there was ``very little to stop them'' from mounting a terrorist operation. ``There is no reason why what happened in America couldn't happen in Britain or any European country,'' he said.

Mr. Blair told Parliament that there was need to take a fresh look at extradition laws in the wake of Tuesday's events in America. And the Home Secretary, Mr. David Blunkett, in a radio interview, hinted at introduction of identity cards to make identification of extremists easier.

The British media, meanwhile, is awash with ``exclusive'' stories on Osama and his worldwide terrorist network with estimates of his ``fortunes'' which, according to one newspaper, is ``no more than a few million dollars rather than the $ 300 million fortune of legend''. There are, however, no two opinions about his awesome influence on terrorists.

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Section  : International
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